Yellowcard - Ocean Avenue
By Dustin Hupe

Yellowcard - Ocean Avenue
Label: Capitol
Rating: 

Here we go with another MTV "punk" band that actually sounds good. Ocean Avenue is Yellowcard's debut album on Capitol Records and it is quite different from what you might expect. It has very sincere lyrics with the "punky" sound one might expect except for the violin, which sounds pretty cool. It starts upbeat but by the end of the album things have gotten a little deeper and mellow. If there was one thing I didn't like about it was that some of the songs (near the end of the album) seem kind of depressing, but everything else is good and the title track "Ocean Avenue" is just too catchy.

For the most part they tried to keep the album upbeat and positive. Track 5 "Life Of A Salesman") seems like a song written about singer Ryan Key's father. And track 11 "Believe" includes the lyrics "Everything is gonna be alright, Be strong believe."  While the song "Only One" (track 6) is about breaking up and then trying to figure out why it was the best thing to do. So check it out, it's better than most of the other stuff they put on MTV these days.

Listen to samples and Purchase this CD online

editor's note: Although this CD came out in 2003, it was recently sent to us for review. That is why this review has been posted now. Better late, then a review short.